Kaiser Maximilian I in travel dress on horseback

‘The great Kaiser Maximilian’ as Holbein later wrote on the sketch – probably as observed during a ride through the streets of Augsburg. The draughtsman was looking from a somewhat elevated position, possibly from a window in his house; it is touching to see such an authentic, because fully unpretentious, snapshot of the much-honoured emperor of the Age of Dürer. Although Maximilian certainly had a sense for pomp and took the dignity of his family very seriously, he also often enjoyed appearing under a more modest aspect.